WAUKOMIS, Okla. —  After a sloppy first quarter put the Lady Chiefs in a 7-6 hole, Waukomis girls basketball coach Matt Cue challenged his five seniors,

Apparently the message was loud and clear.

Sadie Perry scored 21 points and Alexa Harris fought through wire-to-wire foul trouble to add 19, and the Lady Chiefs pulled away late to beat Dover 76-41 Tuesday.

“We have those days in us,” Cue said. “I don’t know why, but sometimes we just get overconfident thinking we can step out on the floor and win a ball game just because we’re Waukomis … They’ve got the ability to go play and win a lot of ball games, and they have been winning a lot of ball games, but it seems like they just kind of coast until you really get ripping on them, then they pick it up.”

When the Lady Chiefs did “pick it up” on Tuesday, it didn’t take long to put away the visiting Lady Longhorns.

Perry scored 16 of her 21 points in the second quarter, shooting five-for-nine from the floor and hitting all five free throws in the frame to give Waukomis a 27-24 lead.

“I have those nights where it’s really good, and nights where it’s really bad,” said Perry, whose 21 points were one shy of her career high. “I guess tonight was one of those really good nights.”

After being whistled for her third personal foul with less than seven minutes gone in the first quarter, Harris returned in the third to score 16 of her own, shooting a perfect five-for-five from the field and the line.

“(Cue) has to make me mad to get me to come out to play,” Harris said. “He did that, and I came out and did what I should have done in the first quarter and the second quarter.”

After turning the ball over 13 times in the first half — eight of them in the opening quarter — Waukomis had only three giveaways in the second half, forcing 14 Dover turnovers and outscoring the Lady Longhorns 47-17 in the final two quarters.

“Things started clicking,” Perry said. “Sometimes they just don’t really click, and they did eventually. But we’re going to have to start working on getting there at the beginning of the game and not have to get yelled at.”

Nicole Johnson scored 13 for Dover (3-5), and Alex Beck added 11.

Kysha Eck scored seven of her 11 in the final frame and Kaity Kokojon added seven for the Lady Chiefs (6-2), who visit Morrison on Friday.



Dover 43, Waukomis 39 (B)



Trevor Howard hit two free throws to give the Chiefs a 36-34 lead in the fourth quarter, but visiting Dover would outscore Waukomis 9-3 in the final 3:31 to beat its hosts, 43-39.

“We turned the ball over, and we couldn’t stop penetration,” said Waukomis coach Dale Bledsoe. “At crunch time, they made plays and we didn’t.”

The Chiefs had turnovers on three straight possessions after taking the final-frame lead, and shifty Dover guards Bryan Pacheco and D’Vante Randle took advantage, weaving through a desperate Waukomis press to create easy Longhorn looks that would seal the game.

Randle hit a wide-open Jesus Gomez for an easy layup to give Dover a 38-36 lead, and Pacheco would hit three free throws to seal the Longhorns’ (2-6) second win.

“My two kids up top, they can drive well, and they can find the open guy,” said Dover coach Brett Holmes. “We didn’t always make the shot, but they’re pretty good at finding the open guy.”

Waukomis led 20-15 at intermission, but Dover opened the third quarter with full-court pressure that limited the Chiefs to six points against nine turnovers in the frame.

“We got a few turnovers, and we kept them from scoring,” Holmes said. “We did good with our press. We got a turnover almost every time out of it, we just didn’t do a good job of getting to it.”

Meanwhile, Dover took advantage of a Waukomis defense that was on its heels, outscoring the Chiefs 28-18 in the second half.

“Even in our half-court defense, we couldn’t stop penetration,” Bledsoe said. “They just kept getting to the hole, and we couldn’t get a stop … Tonight, they were more aggressive than we were. They made plays, and we didn’t. That’s what it came down to.”

Tyler Terrel scored a game-high 11, and Jess Click added 10 for Waukomis (4-4), which plays Friday in Morrison.